Bussy D'Ambois and The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois Part 29

=33=, 84-87. =Thrice pluckt . . . scap't.= The acc.u.mulation of personal p.r.o.nouns makes the interpretation somewhat difficult: thrice D'Ambois plucked at it, and thrice drew on thrusts from Barrisor who darted hither and thither like flame, and continued thrusting as D'Ambois plucked; yet, incredible to relate, the latter escaped injury.

=33=, 90. =only made more horrid with his wound:= Barrisor being only rendered fiercer by his wound. The construction is loose, as grammatically the words should qualify D'Ambois.

=33=, 92. =redoubled in his danger:= thrusting himself into danger for the second time. For this peculiar use of _redoubled_ cf. l. 190, "on my knees redoubled," and note.

=33=, 94. =Arden.= Probably to be no more identified here with the Warwicks.h.i.+re district of this name than in _As You Like It_. Ardennes would be more appropriate on a Frenchman's lips, but the district belongs to the realm of fancy as much as Armenia in l. 117.

=33=, 97. =he gan to nodde.= An anacoluthon. The construction should be "begin to nodde" after "I have seene an oke" in l. 94, but the intervening participial clauses produce irregularity. Similarily in l.

101 "he fell" should be "fall" and "hid" should be "hide."

=33=, 103-104. =Of ten set . . . Navarre.= The war between Henry III and Henry of Navarre continued from 1587 to 1589, but the "ten set battles"

are without historical foundation.

=34=, 105. [=Montsurry.=] See note on stage direction at beginning of the scene.

=34=, 108. =felt report:= probably, account related with feeling.

=34=, 121. =the treasure of his brow:= his horn.

=34=, 122. =shelter of a tree.= Unicorns were supposed to be worsted in encounters by their adversaries sheltering behind trees, in which they impaled themselves. Spenser, _F. Q._ II, 5, 10, describes how a lion defeats a unicorn by this stratagem. Cf. _Jul. Caes._ II, 1, 303-04.

"He loves to hear That unicorns may be betray'd with trees."

=34=, 128. =th' tw' other=, i. e. Pyrrhot and Melynell.

=35=, 130. =hunt Honour at the view.= A rare metaphorical application of the technical phrase, "hunt at the view."

=35.= [=Exit Nuntius.=] The editor has inserted this, as the Qq do not indicate when the Nuncius departs, and, with the entrance of Bussy, there is no further need of him. =bare:= bareheaded.

=35=, 141-44. =If ever Nature . . . one.= Difficult lines, which may be paraphrased: if ever Nature's bond maintained its strength, when subjected to the severe test of bridging the distance between sovereign and subject, both sprung from the same seed, now prove that in elevated stations she can show her n.o.bility.

=36=, 156. =that=, i. e. positive law.

=36=, 157. =prefixing:= settling beforehand.

=36=, 164. =this fact, though of justice:= this action, though done in the name of justice.

=37=, 170. =he=, i. e. his enemy.

=37=, 175-76. =which . . . him:= which is more precious than a human life, which is inferior in value to it, and which was rightly forfeited to him through ill-doing.

=37=, 190. =This is a grace.= The grace or boon for which Bussy asks is explained by him in ll. 193-203. "This" usually refers to something that has gone before, =on my knees redoubled:= going down for the second time on my knees--from which he had risen after l. 179.

=37=, 192. =And shall=, i. e. And which grace shall.

=38=, 198-204. =Let me . . . King indeed.= With this a.s.sertion of man's original "Kings.h.i.+p" cf. _The Gentleman Usher_, V, 1.

And what's a prince? Had all been virtuous men, There never had been prince upon the earth, And so no subject: all men had been princes.

A virtuous man is subject to no prince, But to his soul and honour.

=38.= [=Exit Rex c.u.m Montsurry.=] See note on stage direction at beginning of this scene.

=40=, 18. =Although she be my ante.= From these words we learn that Beaupre is niece to the Duke and d.u.c.h.ess of Guise. Compare III, ii, 188, and the reference to "my lady, your niece" in the pa.s.sage in Qq 1607 and 1608 quoted in the textual note on III, ii, 233.

=42=, 49. =an agent for my bloud:= an instrument in the satisfaction of my pa.s.sions.

=42=, 57-58. =his retiring . . . aspiring:= his retirement to a position of inferiority will satisfy my aspirations.

=43=, 70-71. =Wise wives . . . friend.= Tamyra ironically keeps up the metaphor of the "two strings" in l. 66, and plays upon the double senses of "firm" and "loose" in archery and morals.

=44=, 95. =as good cheap as it:= literally, on as advantageous terms as; hence, with as little effort as, as readily as.

=45=, 108-10. =Whose there . . . quality.= Cf. _All Fools_, II, 1, p. 67 (Phelps).

While I sit like a well-taught writing-woman Turning her eyes upon some work or picture, Read in a book, or take a feigned nap, While her kind lady takes one to her lap.

=45=, 117. =oportunities:= importunities, which Dilke wished to subst.i.tute. But "opportunity" was used in this sense. Cf. _Mer. Wiv.

Wind._ III, 4, 20-2.

"Yet seeke my Fathers love, still seeke it, sir; If opportunity and humblest suite Cannot attain it, why then harke you hither."

=45=, 121-122. =as to their pardons . . . Parliaments.= The meaning appears to be: as the exceptions they make, after Parliaments have ceased to sit, are to the pardons they have granted.

=46=, 129. =part'st with victory:= comest off victoriously.

=48=, 165. =the Center:= the unmoved central point of the earth, according to the Ptolemaic system.

=49=, 182. =cast . . . beene:= undress, as if I had never been watching here. Tamyra here determines to go to bed, but afterwards (l. 242) she returns.

=49=, 198. =the first orbe move.= An allusion to the _Primum Mobile_, which, in the Ptolemaic system, was the tenth sphere "of a most pure and cleare substance and without starres," which revolved in twenty-four hours, and carried round in its course all the inner spheres.

=51=, 231-32. =If not . . . satisfi'd:= if she is not given opportunity to dissemble or show petulance, she is not satisfied even if she gains what she desires.

=56=, 20-30. =Sin . . . troth.= A characteristic ill.u.s.tration of how one simile in Chapman's verse begets another, with little regard for logical sequence. The "shadowes" with which sin frightens us are first compared to the imaginary creatures into which fancy shapes the clouds; then sin itself (relegated from an active to a pa.s.sive part) is likened not to a pure creation of the fancy, but to an exaggerated picture of a real monster displayed by "policy," i. e. the craft which seeks to debar men from their desires.

For the custom of exhibiting a rude painting of a curiosity, as a decoy to sightseers, cf. _The Tempest_, II, 2, 29-31, "Were I in England now .

. . and had but this fish painted, not a holiday fool there but would give a piece of silver."

=56=, 21. =in his truest valour:= if his valour be rightly estimated.

=56=, 33. =our three powers.= The vegetative, sensitive and reasoning faculties.

=56-57=, 40-43. =Nor shall . . . wings.= Tamyra's "fame," which in l. 38 has been spoken of as a "jewell," is now likened to a fabulous winged creature which is accorded free flight.

=57=, 44. =It rests as:= the secret remains as inviolable as if.

=58=, 69-71. =layes . . . oppos'd.= I am indebted to Dr. J. A. H. Murray for the following interpretation of this pa.s.sage: [Nature] brings our powers into accordance with its own will or working, just as the stone (laid by the builder) should be apposed or brought into accord with the line, not the line (which is straight and not to be s.h.i.+fted) made to lie along the stone.